


Can't Believe You're Really Gone

by Pufalup



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-04 23:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18822745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pufalup/pseuds/Pufalup
Summary: After Tony dies, Peter doesn't know what to do. He feels broken, helpless, and most of all, hopeless. But he's not the only one.





	Can't Believe You're Really Gone

**Author's Note:**

> Endgame emotionally killed me lol. I need a little hope for Peter, so I made some.

“We won. We won, Mister Stark. You did it, Sir, you did it. I’m sorry, Tony…”

Someone pulls him away from where he kneels on hard concrete, looking up at the misty eyes of his mentor. Peter’s vision swims with tears, because this can’t be happening. It’s not fair. The universe can’t want more. Peter wants to say everything. He wants to tell Tony how much he loves him. _Please, I need you. I don’t know what to do without you. Don’t leave me. Please…_

Pepper is whispering something to Tony, something soft and sweet. A parting message.

Then the arc reactor goes out, and Peters world comes crashing down.

He falls to his knees and he _sobs._ God, he sobs harder than he ever has before. It’s all so unfair, everything’s so unfair.Tony shouldn’t have to die.

He shouldn’t have to die.

  


Peter’s eyes open to the light of a peaceful morning. Except it’s not right. It’s not right. It’s too beautiful. Too perfect. The universe should be mourning.

Tears are crusted in Peter’s eyelashes. Today is the funeral. Today, Peter has to say goodbye.

There’s a gentle knock on the door. “Honey, are you awake?” Aunt May says. Her voice is quiet.

She opens the door slowly when Peter doesn’t respond. Her face softens at the sight of him. “Peter, dear, it’s time to get up.”

Peter swallows hard. His lip trembles as he takes a breath. “I don’t want to.” He bites out.

Aunt May sits on the bed next to him. She rubs a reassuring hand over his legs. “Don’t you want to be there?”

“No.” Peter says. He closes his eyes. “I want him to be alive.”

He turns his head away. He knows the tears are coming. He can feel them stinging, can feel them taunting him.

Aunt May doesn’t say anything in response to that. She just stands up, and closes the door behind her.

After a moment, Peter gets out of bed. He puts on a suit, because he has to.

But the world isn’t right.

  


Peter stands next to Aunt May at the funeral, and the world isn’t right. He watches the little bouquet of flowers float away on the lake, and the world isn’t right. He tries not to cry, and the world isn’t right.

He knows he should say goodbye, but he can’t. He can’t, because that means that Tony’s really gone. That he’s really not coming back.

Peter sits, staring out at the water on the too-perfect day, with the too-perfect clouds, and the too-happy birds chattering away in the trees.

So he doesn’t even notice when a set of footsteps approached. Doesn’t notice when the boy sits down next to him. Doesn’t notice that he’s trying not to cry, too.

He doesn’t notice until he speaks. His voice is soft and raspy, and Peter almost doesn’t hear it. “I can’t believe he’s really gone,” he says.

Peter looks to the boy with a round face that’s made to smile, that’s bent into a miserable sadness. Shaggy hair falls over sad eyes that turn up to meet his own. “It just doesn’t seem real, you know?” the boy says.

Peter nods, a tiny little thing. Just a dip of his chin. Then he takes a deep breath and wipes at his eyes. _Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry._ “God, it’s only been a day and I already miss him.” Peter says.

The boy is quiet for a moment. “How’d you know him?” he asks.

God, Peter… Peter remembers everything. He remembers when he first saw Tony Stark, in all his fame and glory, sitting in his living room. Tony Stark, who somehow managed to know exactly where his sad excuse for a suit was hidden. Tony Stark, who installed a thousand different gadgets and modes into an amazing Stark Tech suit made just for Peter. Tony Stark, who openly admitted to keeping each one of Peter’s ridiculous voice messages. Tony Stark, who saved Peter from himself countless times.

Peter remembers all of it.

He searches for the right words for a second, but then, everything seems to fall into place. He wishes it had sooner.

“He, he was like a father to me.”

The truth, laid out plain and simple. And maybe, once Peter hears the words out loud, his heart breaks a little more.

The boy smiles, small and sad. It’s barely there, and for a second, Peter thinks he might be imagining it.

“I’m Harley, by the way.” The boy says.

“Peter,” Peter replies.

Harley is definitely smiling now, and Peter can’t help but smile back, even if it is a little broken.

But Peter's broken, and maybe, just maybe, he isn’t the only one.


End file.
